Once and Always
by Baysidegal
Summary: A hyper mini-slayer and a broody teenage witch are the least of Angel’s and Cordelia's problems when the world threatens to end (again), this time with Angel's shanshu on the line.
1. Meet Tawnee

Summary~ A hyper mini-slayer and a broody teenage witch are the least of Angel's and Cordelia's problems when the world threatens to end (again), this time with Angel's shanshu on the line.         

Authors Note: This is thing that hit me over the summer and I've been working on it and I'm finally proud of it! Thanks a lot to Jen who helped me out a lot with the title and some of the phrases and the summary (she gets a whole lot of credit *gives Jen a cookie*). Alice, whom I owe my life to, for being my beta.

Disclaimer~ I only own cutie little Tawnee and brooding Darynn the rest are property of Joss, who is wonderful even though a lot of his plots make us all mad sometimes.

Chapter 1 

"Hi I'm Tawnee! I have special powers! I can kick a-

Cordelia Chase slapped a firm hand over the little girl's mouth. "She's just vocal." Tawnee gave Cordy a little kid glare for silencing her greeting.

The man nodded his head at the pint-sized girl beside Cordy. "I'm sorry, our program is full, we'll give you a call when a position becomes open."

He turned to leave as Cordelia sighed out loud. Out of all the called Mini Slayers in the world the Fang Gang were stuck with the youngest. "Tawnee what have we told you about that word?"

"Well Mr. Spike says it," the four year old objected.

"No, Mr. Spike says arse, not ass, there is a difference," Cordy explained taking the girl's hand to cross the street to her car. "A British difference."  

"Ha! You said it, you said ass!" Tawnee pointed out, her face lighting up. She thought she might beat out Ms. Smarty pants in this fight.

"In context, Tawnee," Cordelia reminded her as she helped the girl into the car.

"No difference," Tawnee pouted, trying to use the same argument that Cordy had just used. Ass and arse were the same thing, so what's the difference between ass in context? She crossed her chubby arms across her chest, her bottom lip jutted out.

Cordy tried to explain while buckling her in. "You know when you say something someone else already said. No, that doesn't make sense." Tawnee still waited on an explanation as Cordy got in the drivers seat. "Its got those little quotation marks around it," Cordy made air quotes as an example. "So its different."  

"Is not."

"Is too." 

"Is not."

"It is too," Cordy said firmly, meaning the argument was over.

Tawnee slumped down in her seat, her bottom lip quivering a little bit. "You always win," she whispered as Queen C drove off in the direction of the Wolfram and Hart law firm.

"You can take your Shrine of Cauctya and shove it up your-

"Darynn!" Wesley snapped, looking at her firmly. "What kind of language is that for a lady to use?"

"You would know how to act like a lady, wouldn't you?" she answered as she leaned up against the wall of the office.

Wesley gave her a look. "You're pushing it love," he told her firmly. Wes was always the firn one out of the whole lot here at the firm. "On the contrary I am not lady, if that is what your are implying."

"Can I just go see Angel? I don't need you to help me practice my magic" Dara told him , as she rolled her hazel eyes. "I've been in here all day."

"Dara, you have only been in here half an hour," Wesley corrected her with a sigh. "Fine, take a short break." He couldn't work with her while she was in one of her moods.

Darynn Thomas threw the door open, letting it crash against the wall behind it. She tossed her dark brown hair for effect as she stomped out.  The teenage witch hated that man more then Satan, and she knew the powers of Satan. He always thought he knew everything, but Dara just wanted to tell him most politely to 'go to hell". No, she didn't want to do anything rash, Angel and Gunn would be on her case in a second. 'I just need time to cool off,' she thought to herself as she came up on Angel's office.

"Good afternoon Ms. Darynn. Anything I can get you?" Harmony greeted the fiery teenager.

"Go to hell!" Dara snapped as she went by the desk. There she had said, not to Wes but she had said it.

Harmony jumped. "Fine, you don't have to be so mean about it!" 

Darynn rolled her eyes again. She didn't like that woman either. She was blonde, all she wanted to do was sleep with Spike. 'Screw her,' she thought bitterly, entering Angel's office.

Angel looked up from his files; he could tell she was ticked off. "What happened?"

"I don't wanna talk about it," Darynn replied as she fell back into one of the leather chairs. The tall, handsome vampire closed the folder in front of him so he could listen to the girl.

"Well I do, so talk," Angel leaned back in his chair. He ran his fingers of the leather arms of his office chair. He really liked this chair; it was a good chair.

Darynn sneered at him. "You act like you care," she said, looking out the window.

"I do care," he answered. "So I guess we'll just sit here until you do tell me."

"It's just-

"We're back," Cordy announced as she came into the office, Tawnee running ahead.

Darynn muttered something before getting up and storming out, brushing past Cordy as she went to be alone somewhere.

"What's up with her?" Cordy asked raising an eyebrow at Angel as she sat all her shopping bags down in the floor. "You made her mad didn't you?

"Bad day," Angel replied and he glancing at all the shopping bags on the floor. "You were supposed to take her to find a daycare, not go shopping."

"Well, the kid needed some clothes, do you expected her to run around naked" Cordy objected as she started holding up cute outfits that were kid size. "Besides I did go for an interview."

"Oh! Naked would be fun," Tawnee shouted out as she ran around the room, both of the adults ignored her comment.

"How'd it go," Angel glanced over at Tawnee to make sure she wasn't breaking anything. She had a tendency to do that.

"There weren't any openings," she answered with, sitting down on the couch. She leaned her head back and let out a long, tired sigh. She decided not the mention that they had most likely been denied for Tawnee's language.

Tawnee crawled up beside Cordelia, placing a small hand on her forehead. "Are you sick Cordy? Do you got a fever?" 

Cordy managed a laugh as she closed her eyes to relax. "No, Tawnee, I'm not sick. I'm exhausted." 

"What's 'austed' mean?" Tawnee asked, turning to Angel for an answer.

" It means she's tired," he told her as he went back to looking at the folder. Tawnee giggled and walked over to Angel. 

She stood up on the tips of her toes to whisper in his ear. "Cordy could never be 'austed' of you." She pushed some of her brown hair from her face as she stood back to wait for his reply. 

"What do you mean?" Angel asked as he checked to make Cordy was still sprawled out on the couch with her eyes closed.  

"I means she likes you," Tawnee pointed out, a smile spreading on her chubby face. "I thinks you likes her too."

"Maybe I do," Angel said reaching out to pull the small girl in a hug. Over the last year Angel had come to be attached to both girls, though Dara didn't share his feelings.  "Maybe I don't."

Tawnee leaned over again and whispered, "Angel and Cordy sitting in a tree. K-I-S

"You better not finish that song," Angel commanded with a smile as pulled her into his lap and started to tickle her tummy. She laughed as she tried to wiggle away, and Queen C slept peacefully on the couch.


	2. Duckies

Summary~ A hyper mini-slayer and a broody teenage witch are the least of Angel's and Cordelia's problems when the world threatens to end (again), this time with Angel's shanshu on the line.         

Disclaimer~ Don't own them. Cept Tawnee and Dara! 

Credit~ E~beth helped me with this. Alice beta-ed and Jen sat around doing nothing! Just joking Jen helped too! *Gives them all cookies*

 Authors Note~ considering the things that happened to Cordy last week, this has become impossible, but you know… lets says she woke up from the coma and she's all-better!

 Suggestions~ 

For those of you that like hyper, little mini Slayers go check out "Small Packages" by Gidgetgirl. She got some very interesting, but cute characters there.

Go check out the work by my beta "Cloudofcalm" her Little Hero is awesome. Even though she hates kidfics right now, we still love her! *gives Alice a big hug* 

If you into Harry Potter fics with crossovers from Buffy go read "Once Upon a Spell" by PyroBear

Those are just some of my favorite stories on this site. On with the story!  

Chapter 2

"Duckies! Duckies! Duckies! Duckies are so damn cool!" 

 Angel gave her a firm look and Tawnee stopped jumping up and down at the edge of Angel's desk. She frowned at Angel as she removed the ducky bathrobe that covered her dress.

"Does she ever calm down?" Angel asked Cordy who was folding up the last outfit that Tawnee had modeled for him.

"Not that I'm aware of," Cordy answered with a smile. "That is something you can train her to do."

"She's not a dog," Dara said entering the room, earphones hanging around her neck. "You don't give her a biscuit and say '_that's a good girl Tawnee.'_"

"You knew what I mean, oh dark one," Cordy said jokingly at the teenager.

Darynn shot a devilish glare that would petrify a normal person, but Cordy and Angel weren't normal people. They were used to Dara's usual death threats and evil glares. "Why don't you rot in…" she started to mumble under her breath, as she turned away from the adults, but Angel interrupted her.

"Dara, vampire hearing," Angel reminded. "Next time you want something not to be heard don't say it at all." 

"What'd you say Dara?" Tawnee asked as she jumped in a circle around the teenager. Dara always said good words. That's where she had learned pussy but she wasn't allowed to say that. Dara's favorite word was Poop-in-a-box. It wasn't a bad word, but it was Dara's special word and Dara glared if anyone else said it. 

"Nothing that had your name in it," Dara told her, brushing past her, heading towards the couch. She ignored them all as she put the headphones back over her ears and letting it drown out everything. Tawnee knew that Dara would talk to her now; she was listening to her tapes. Only Tawnee knew what kind of tapes they were, and she promised Dara she'd never tell. Well she had promised not to tell, Dara had promised her long and painful torture if she did tell.  

"Isn't that bad for her?" Cordy asked Angel glancing over Dara who had positioned herself on the couch. Cordy watched as Tawnee patted Dara's leg before skipping off towards the doorway. 

Angel shrugged before catching Tawnee who was making a break for the door yelling something about finding her Wesley. "You're not going anywhere, shortie," Angel told her as he lifted her into his arms. "Except maybe for a nice long nap."

"Nap?!" Tawnee exclaimed. She didn't like naps, not at all. "I'm not austed, like Cordy was. Cause naps are for weenies." 

Cordelia silenced her with a stern look as Angel raised an eyebrow amused at the child's vocabulary. "Nap." Cordy instructed in a motherly tone. 

Tawnee let out a big sigh, blowing up a strand of her hair. "Ooooo-kayyy."

"That's my girl," Cordy said with a beaming smile. "Tonight you can watch X-files."

"X-files?" Angel inquired as Tawnee wriggled down. "You let her watch that?"

Cordy shrugged her shoulders. "I can't really stop her, Dara watches it every night," the brunette women explained. "And what ever Dara does, Tawnee does."

"Is that where she gets her bad language?" Angel inquired looking down at Tawnee. 

"Weasel," she demanded, stomping a small flip-flop clad foot. 

"I'll take her to see Wesley," Angel told Cordy, and Tawnee did her own little victory dance around the room. "Since she wants to so much."

"What about the N-A-P?" Cordy inquired.

Tawnee cocked her head to the side; she hated it when Cordy spelled things to Angel. 

"She could take a nap in the penthouse," Angel suggested with a shrug. " I could sit and watch her, I need some peace and quiet to work."

Cordy put her hands on her hip and looked him dead in the eyes. "Don't give me that, you're going to go to sleep too, you need to work."

"Er," Angel stuttered, but then a smile curved on his lips.

"Angel when are you going to figure out… I know all the tricks," Cordy said shaking her head. "Grow up." 

"Yeah, grow up Angel." Tawnee repeated, putting bawled up fist on her hips, a perfect likeness of Cordelia. 

Tawnee looked over to Cordy confused. "Uh… Cordy? Why's he gotta grow up? He's already REAL old, that's what Spike says."

"Don't believe anything Spike tells you," Angel ordered as he bent over to pick up Tawnee. "He lies."

"Spike also says that you're a wanker," Tawnee pointed out as she was lifted into the vampire's arms. "What's that?"

"Nothing you need to add to your vocabulary," Cordy told her in another no argument tone. "Now what am I supposed to do? Sit and stare at the wall?"

"Paint your nail?" Angel suggested darting out of the room, before Cordelia could say anything. 

Cordy growled in frustration as Angel fled from the room. Dara remained unphased as she listened to her CD.

Tawnee was inspecting Wesley's shelf as Angel and Wesley talked in the corner. They were whispering about Dara, and she wasn't allowed to hear

She stood on her tippy-toes to reach a jar on the shelf. She unscrewed the lid and took a big sniff of the incense inside the jar. "What is this Wessy?" She asked, recapping the jar and putting it up. "Its smells good, can we burn some?" 

"No, we cannot burn some," Wesley told her firmly. "Step back slowly from my cabinet."

She did, but not before grabbing the smallest jar and shoving it in her jumper pocket. "Hey ,Wessy," Tawnee shouted as she skipped over to him. "What did Darynn do to make you mad? Is she in trouble? Is she gonna get a spanking? Is she grounded? Huh? Huh? Huh? You need to bust her a-"

"Tawnee," Wesley hissed, he gave her firm look then bent down to whisper words into her ear. Which was pointless if he was trying to keep a secret from someone, the only other person in the room was a vampire. 

Tawnee's eyes widen and she squeaked out, "You wouldn't?" 

"Oh but I would," Wesley promised her, crossing his arms across his chest. "You heard me, no more language or I'll wash your mouth out with soap."

Tawnee looked at Angel for help, but he nodded his head in agreement. "Fine!" Tawnee shouted. "You and Cordy and Wessy are always against me! No more," she scrunched up her face as she thought,  "conversating without me!" Wesley and Angel exchanged looks, not only had she picked up bad language, but she had a habit of making up her own words. 

"That's the second time I've had to correct someone on her language," Wesley told Angel as he watched Tawnee stomp to the other side of the room angrily. Wesley went around to his desk and sat down with a sigh. "I got a call from Rupert Giles today."

"What did he have to say?" 

"Someone informed him that we had a Slayer," Wesley answered showing a copy of the letter that had been faxed to him. "They received this letter in the mail, from an unknown source."

"Dara?" Angel inquired, reading over the letter.

"Yeah, what?" Dara answered as she came into the office. 

"No, Angel it couldn't have been Dara," Wesley answered, shaking his head. 

"Oh I forgot, I'm sorry," Angel answered as he read over the letter again. 

"What are you two babbling about now?" Dara asked as she stuffed her CD player in her backpack. She eyed both men suspiciously. 

"One of my ingredients is missing," Wesley told her, making up an excuse off the top of his head. Tawnee, who had been humming the tune to X-files suddenly stopped and became very still.  

"Oh really," She raised an eyebrow as she examined the cabinet of ingredients. "Its Tayla Leaves," she said matter of factly. "Any idiot would have noticed."

Wesley went over to inspect the cabinet, and quickly realized that she was correct. "Indeed, but how did you know so quickly?" He asked. He began looking around the drawers mumbling something like "I'm sure I purchased some"

"I have them all color coded," she told them simply, going over to get the magic book that she had thrown earlier. "Now, if you don't mind and you're ready to get up of you butt and help me I'll study, because I have places to be." 

"Very well," Wesley said as he went to sit at his desk again. "I'll see you after your nap Tawnee-girl."

Tawnee nodded in the middle of a small yawn. She started humming again as Angel carried her from the room. 

"Now about the Shrine of Cauctya…" Wesley drowned on and Dara briefly nodded off without Wes's notice.

TBC~ Tawnee and her pets, MoJo and Hollister. A few Dara secrets revealed. Some Spike Goodness. Mr. Gunn gets Tawnee/pets duty!

For those of you that wanted to know about the shippers. At first I was completely undecided, but what happened to Cordy totally pissed me off so this is gonna be A/C pretty much. If this offends you I'm sorry… I like B/A ships too, but either way I want Mr. Broody to be happy. And because of Tawnee and Dara Angel would be more happy with Cordy

  
  



End file.
